At Kingship Church we believe culture is experiencing a societal drift, moving further away from the reality of a grounded truth. This is not a new development but a continual pattern that feels as if it has accelerated in recent years. As we observe the current trends, we are careful not to respond from a reactive, defensive, or emotional state but within context. Therefore, we stand on the belief that nothing has changed since the beginning of time; truth remains unmoved, unshaken, unfluid, and constant in the person of Christ Jesus.
Today’s issues that appear to cause division and tension, bear a distinct theme that is in direct conflict with the image of God.
We are image bearers in search of the Image. God created us in His image, so as His image bearers this provides oneself with intrinsic function, purpose and value. These truths are unchangeable and yet our sinful nature actively chooses to corrupt them. We choose to live in such a way that does not acknowledge truth (Rom 1:21). Working against the image we were made in is not a social issue but a spiritual stronghold that works directly against God’s foundational design because of its direct issue with God as our sovereign creator.
So, if we counter the debate with what has only been accepted in the past, then we ourselves miss the most important component that humanity is looking to resolve in order to find wholeness: we are wired to be objectively defined.
To rely on us to define our reality ultimately leads to broken definitions, as our brokenness rejects the one who has already given us definition by making us in His image. When we rebel from the truth with which God presents us, both in His Word and the order of His creation, the inevitable result is a distancing and separation from God, not just Him but the things that are from Him. It leads to a rebellion in how we view God’s moral standards, His written Word, the Church, the role of marriage, the makeup of one’s personhood, how God created us, who has the authority to define our identity, God's creation structure, the value of life, and, ultimately, truth.
We believe and teach that God is the source of absolute truth. Truth has always resided in God. In order for us to know the truth, it would have to be revealed to us in the same manner that the invisible God would need to be revealed to us. Jesus Christ is that visible image that conveys both the nature of God, in Word and deed, and the reality of truth.
The Greek word for truth is “aletheia” which means a reality that is firm and universally constant under any condition that binds absolution to morality, purpose, value and certainty. When we say amen at the end of a prayer we are referring to the Hebrew word אָמֵן , which means “to let truth be so”, because we can trust truth to be verifiably faithful for it can be found in Christ Jesus, who holds all of reality together (Col 1:17, Rom 11:36). Jesus not only claimed Himself to be truth, but claimed to have exclusivity of its origin (Eph 4:21).
God has brought truth to us, that is to say, He has lowered the nature of Himself in Jesus to bring forth a transformative, singular, and conclusive understanding of the nature of our creator, our own nature, and the nature of our relationship with Him. Thus, the act of truth revealed to us places a responsibility upon ourselves to respond to its immutable authoritative objective:
that God holds us in his unchanging, unwavering, absolute truth.
In our sinful nature we may strongly disagree and desire for truth to produce a different outcome than what God has designed and ordained, but our nature cannot change the reality of truth. We have not formed the reality or creation within which we find ourselves. While anyone may be able to distort our understanding or limit accessibility of the truth, the written Word of truth, which has come from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4), remains firmly established in the person of Jesus Christ. To come to know Christ, both in Word and His person (John 1), is to come to know truth (Rom 8:31-32). Therefore, we believe that anyone who truly seeks to know the truth will inevitably arrive at knowing Christ.
Our Hope is that all would hear the message of truth, the gospel of Christ Jesus (Eph 1:13), who is the fullness of truth, and has freed us from our sin with the definitive truth of His salvation for all those who would believe in Him.
Biblical Reflection:
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:21-23
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Colossians 1:16-18
assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
Ephesians 4:21
But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14